Dignitaries gathered on a dry Klamath Falls hillside in August 2011 to celebrate the launch of the largest solar power project ever attempted in Oregon. As then-Gov. John Kitzhaber and others dug their golden shovels into the hard ground, they were adamant that this was not another state-sponsored green energy boondoggle. This $27 million collection of solar arrays would be a boon for the economy as well as the environment. For nearly $12 million in tax credits, state officials said, taxpayers could expect the project developer to buy local and hire local, creating a virtuous circle of energy savings, reduced...

I need some advice from Freeperland folks who are savvy with computer issues. Last evening, I received a call from a "Windows Security Center". They knew my name and obviously my phone number. Gave me a spiel that Windows software security had been compromised/corrupted and according to their records, knew I had Windows 7. To prove they were legit, they had me start my computer and prompted me through a series of commands to bring up my specific Windows license number. She read it off and that license numbers was listed on my machine. She prompted me to run a...

Three counties have a solution to salvage an $88-million-dollar solar project that went bust: borrow more millions to pump into the project and hope it will eventually turn a profit and ease the pain to taxpayers, officials said. Some officials view the solution as damage control. Others are calling it a repeat of a mistake, one they will fight to avoid. Freeholders in Sussex, Morris and Somerset counties will vote on settlement agreements this week that would end multiple lawsuits and get the projects back on track, officials said. But there will be opposition -- and some have even called...

Increased coastal flooding, more intense heat waves and lots of rain are on the horizon for New Yorkers as global greenhouse gases drive manmade climate change and alter weather patterns, a report from the New York City Panel on Climate Change predicts. The report looked at the effects of global warming on the most populated U.S. city, and its results were anything but promising. Among its most startling claims was that by 2050, sea levels around Manhattan could rise 11-21 inches. By the end of the century, that figure jumps to an extraordinary 6 feet, enough to put about 7...

Economic Systems: The alarmists keep telling us their concern about global warming is all about man's stewardship of the environment. But we know that's not true. A United Nations official has now confirmed this. At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.'s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism.

Thousands of Ohioans are getting asked some curious questions online and over the phone lately, such as: How old is your grandchild? What brand of car do you have? How long is your mortgage? Many of these people have a question of their own: What is this—some kind of scam? The answer: The quiz is legit, part of an effort by the state to thwart … scams. Specifically, the filing of phony tax returns. Under the new program, some Ohioans who have filed their taxes get letters in the mail from the state Department of Taxation directing them to take...

Recently the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning about a phishing scam related to the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare. Since its inception, there has been much confusion about many aspects of the Affordable Care Act and scammers are taking advantage of this confusion by sending emails to their intended victims that purport to come from a federal agency involved with the Affordable Care Act in which the person receiving the email is asked for personal information or directed to a website by way...

If you’ve been on the internet recently, you’ve probably seen the following ad plastered around your screen, showing a farmer in a red hat with the bold text “Grocery stores fear him!”. But what, really, could grocery stores hate so much about this guy? I decided to investigate for myself to see what was going on, and how a company could afford to spend so much money on this crazy advertisement, because I see it everywhere I look, whether I want to or not.

Many consumers don’t like it when stores check their receipts on the way out of the building, claiming it treats all shoppers like shoplifting suspects. But a trio of scammers had no problem showing their receipt at Lowe’s, running a multi-state shoplifting/return scheme for several months. According to WAVE3, the men would start out from their home base in the Danville, KY, area and then drive the 90-ish miles to Southern Indiana, swiping stuff from various Lowe’s stores along the way. But this wasn’t a simple matter of walking out of the store with power tools and hoping no one...

The U.S. has caused more global warming than any other country. Here’s how the Earth will get its revenge.Last year, we learned what is probably the worst global warming news yet — that we may have irrevocably destabilized the massive ice sheet of West Antarctica, which contains the equivalent of nearly 11 feet of sea level rise. The rate of West Antarctic ice loss has been ominously increasing, and there are fears that if too much goes, the slow and long-term process of ice sheet disintegration could accelerate. Humans have a hard time conceiving of the incredible scale of an...

President Obama on Thursday detailed a new $80 billion proposal intended to help more families afford child care as part of a post-State of the Union policy push the White House hopes can win over Republicans and independents. The president called for the federal government to dramatically expand the Child Care and Development Fund, a federal program that provides states grants for childcare assistance programs to help low- and middle-income families. "In today's economy, when having both parents in the workforce is an economic necessity for many families, affordable, high-quality child care and early childhood education — these aren't just...

Crude oil prices have dropped to their lowest levels for six years, at under $50 a barrel. If they stay low throughout 2015 then it will cause headaches for the wind sector. This is one of the findings of our latest report, Wind Finance 2015. There are many reasons why oil prices have crashed, including the parlous state of the eurozone; slowing growth in China; and the decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain high levels of production to put pressure on rivals, including fracking and renewables. The major risk for wind investors is that prolonged low...

Conman guilty of selling urine as whisky • A British conman has been labelled “a danger to public health” and handed a suspended prison sentence after admitting to selling urine as whisky. Nicholas Stewart, 35, tricked holidaymakers in Blackpool into buying bottles of what appeared to be sealed, 1.5 litre bottles of Jack Daniel’s whiskey and Smirnoff vodka. Security staff seized the bottles – which were being sold at £10 each – after they noticed Stewart approaching tourists at the Coral Island slot machine complex. However, scientific analysis revealed that while some bottles contained flat cola, others contained urine and...

Solar panels are being installed on the roofs of homes and businesses all across America at a record pace. The fad is the latest way for families to "go green" — the energy equivalent of blue recycling bins. The Solar Energy Industries Association likes to tout the industry's "amazing success" — but it's holding a "Shout Out For Solar" social media event Friday as it sees an "uncertain future." That's because its continued success depends on a cascade of government subsidies, including a 30% federal investment credit that expires at the end of 2016. Guess what? Taxpayers are paying for...

Co-authored James Doogue and JoNovaEmpirical data withheld by key scientists shows that since 1910 ocean pH levels have not decreased in our oceans as carbon dioxide levels increased. Overall the trend is messy but more up than down, becoming less acidic. So much for those terrifying oceans of acid that were coming our way.What happened to those graphs? Scientists have had pH meters and measurements of the oceans for one hundred years. But experts decided that computer simulations in 2014 were better at measuring the pH in 1910 than the pH meters were. The red line (below) is the models...

This phone number has called my home repeatedly for the past week. I have an unlisted phone number and am on the national do not call list, yet the calling continues. They called again right at 9 o’clock this morning to my unlisted, “do not call” number. The “do not call” part apparently does not apply to political and charitable calls. The caller ID says “Tea Party” and calls from (202) 750-2399. I figured I’d answer and see what was going on. A lady announces that she is calling on behalf of the tea party effort to support Sen. Rand...

It didn't take long for New York Magazine's story on a 17-year-old stock whiz with a rumored net worth of $72 million to make a splash. But the story's juicy premise unraveled almost as quickly. Wapo.com Jessica Pressler wrote the profile of Mohammed Islam, a senior at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, for a feature called "Reasons to Love New York." After getting an advanced look at Pressler's piece, the New York Post put the improbable story on its Sunday front page. By Monday morning, Islam's story was one of the hottest on Facebook. Then it fell apart. In an...

Hello, I have a problem with a payment that you charged twice. For days ago I have paid with my credit card at Your resort and this morning when I checked my account, I had the transaction charged twice with the same amount. I have attached my credit card statement that shows the double charge. Please let me know how and when do I get the second payment from the attachment credited back to me? Thanks M Barber Riggins received from: From: "M Barber Riggins" jjarut@berkeley.edu Subject: Charged twice.. for a single night stay.. - Please help! Date: 12/12/14 02:31:43...

Motorists are about to get drafted into California’s war on climate change. Starting Jan. 1, gas and diesel fuel will be subject to California’s cap-and-trade market, a 2-year-old regulatory mechanism that puts a price on carbon spewed into the atmosphere. The result will be higher gasoline and diesel prices, and probably more controversy for a state program that’s already been attacked in the courts by the business community.

BE ON THE ALERT, THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS COMING NEW SCAM Just when you think you've heard it all. Here comes another scam. This scam is very clever. Be very careful out there! One could easily fall for this - beware of people bearing gifts! There is a new and clever credit card scam. Please circulate this. Someone it happened to says it works like this: Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from someone who said that he was from some outfit called: "Express Couriers" asking if I was going to be home because there was a...

Today I was visited by a young man who claimed his brother was killed in Afghanistan. He claimed his brother was a Rifleman and gave the 0311 MOS. I don't recall the unit he claimed his brother was with.Something about his story just raised a red flag.The claim was he was raising money to send care packages to troops. I thanked him, told him I was sorry about his brother, but that I wanted to check the website first.The site on his "receipts" stated the charity's site was www.thepatriotproject.com (which I found didn't exist), but the man said it was...

The White House on Monday essentially dared Republicans to try and stop President Obama’s climate-change agenda, with officials bragging that even after the GOP takes control of the Senate in January, there is nothing that can be done to stop a host of controversial new actions. On a conference call with reporters, White House counselor John Podesta said the administration will move ahead on the issue despite Republican efforts to stand in the way. He even called out incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell by name, saying the Kentucky Republican will not succeed in trying to slow executive action on...

TONY Abbott has foiled Barack Obama’s attempt to hijack the G20 with climate change, refusing to put a cent into the US President’s push for a $10 billion global green climate fund. And as chair of the G20, he succeeded in ensuring global economic growth and job creation was at the top of the final declaration yesterday, delivering a blow to Mr Obama’s attempts to elevate climate change to a first order issue .... ... Mr Abbott refused to allow the final communiqué to include a binding requirement that all G20 nations commit to the Green Climate Fund announced by...

SEATTLE -- The letter promised millions, claiming a Publishers Clearing House winner, and was sealed with Attorney General Bob Ferguson's misspelled name. "In the value of $9,222,350.00," Marjorie Flatum read. The 90-year-old widow had to do one simple thing to claim her prize: send money. "First I gave them $70,000," she remembered. "That was my retirement savings." It was "federal deposit insurance" the scam artists promised to return, but then they asked for more. This time, Flatum took out a reverse mortgage on her home for $300,000 - the home her husband built with his own hands.

The hospital that treated the only Ebola patient to die in the United States will pay his relatives an undisclosed sum and create a charitable foundation in his name, the family's attorney said Wednesday. The agreement heads off a lawsuit from relatives of Thomas Eric Duncan, who died Oct. 8 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. Attorney Les Weisbrod declined to say at a news conference how much money the family would receive but said the settlement was a "very good deal" that would provide for Duncan's parents and his four children. Weisbrod also said Presbyterian hospital was not charging...

Sen. James M. Inhofe, an the Oklahoma Republican who once compared the Environmental Protection Agency to the gestapo, is likely to lead the Environment and Public Works Committee when the GOP takes control of the Senate next year. If approved, Inhofe would replace Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), an avowed environmentalist, producing one of the most stark post-election changes in the Capitol. Committee assignments will not be made until Senate party caucuses meet in Washington after the election recess. Inhofe, who has served in the Senate for two decades, is an iconic figure to both environmental and energy lobbyists. He chaired...

Sarah Palin is once again brushing off global warming as "junk science," comparing warnings about the threat of climate change to the eugenics movement of the early 20th century. Last week, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate recorded a video for the Sarah Palin Channel dismissing the "con job" of man-made climate change. "I'm not a denier. I don't doubt that climate change exists," Palin says in the video. "No one has proven that these changes are caused by anything done by human beings via greenhouse gases. There's no convincing scientific evidence for man-made climate change....

Posted: 10/09/2014 9:18 pm EDT Updated: 10/09/2014 11:59 pm EDT CYLVIA HAYES Share 111 Tweet 29 Email 7 Comment 0 The fiancée of Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) admitted on Thursday that she accepted $5,000 nearly two decades ago in exchange for marrying an Ethiopian man to help him obtain residency in the U.S. Cylvia Hayes, who got engaged to Kitzhaber over the summer, used the money to pay for a laptop and school expenses,

Perry Chiaramonte October 04, 2014 A Texas union’s dirty laundry -- aired out in court when workers charged they were cheated out of overtime pay – also shows the labor organization ripped off taxpayers under a $1.3 million contract to sign people up for ObamaCare, a watchdog group is claiming. Non-profit group Southern United Neighborhoods got a $1.3 million federal grant in 2013 to serve as a "navigator," enrolling people in Affordable Care Act coverage. The group subcontracted with United Labor Unions Local 100, which, according to Cause of Action, paid members less than it billed the government and, in...

Our fuel-based economy must be radically overhauled if Europe is to achieve its ambitious emission reduction targets. ... In practice, this means that the car is intelligent, and provides the driver with braking tips based on traffic flows and advice on the best route to limit energy use. Up to 30 % of energy can be saved this way, without losing much time along the way. ...

The Great Pause has now persisted for 17 years 11 months. Indeed, to three decimal places on a per-decade basis, there has been no global warming for 18 full years. Professor Ross McKitrick, however, has upped the ante with a new statistical paper to say there has been no global warming for 19 years. Whichever value one adopts, it is becoming harder and harder to maintain that we face a “climate crisis” Remote Sensing Systems’ satellite-based monthly global mean lower-troposphere temperature dataset, there has been no global warming – none at all – for at least 215 months. This is...

Dozens of former world leaders are expected to converge on Minneapolis in October 2015 for an international summit on climate change and democracy, organizers announced Monday. The conference, called Â“Minnesota 2015: Democracy for a Sustainable Future,Â” is designed to draw people from around the globe to explore ways that democratic nations can reduce greenhouse emissions. Â“It takes it beyond Â‘hereÂ’s the challenge, hereÂ’s the problem,Â’â€‰Â” said Orlyn Kringstad, executive director of the U.S. branch of Partnership for Change, one of the cosponsors. Â“ItÂ’s [about] what needs to be done and how governments around the world can support those efforts.Â” The...

The next time you visit a hospital, it is your wallet that may end up hurting the most. All over the United States, it has become common practice for hospitals to wildly inflate medical bills. For example, it has been reported that some hospitals are charging up to 30 dollars for a single aspirin pill. And as you will see below, some victims report being billed tens of thousands of dollars for a non-surgical hospital visit that lasts only a few hours. When something is seriously wrong with us, most of us never stop to ask our health professionals how...

My Hubby sent me this in email: Got an email from the Natl Repub Senate Comm. begging for money and supposedly authored by Mitch McWimpel In the fine print at the bottom it reads: This email was sent by: Romney for President Inc., 138 Conant St., 1st Floor, Beverly, MA 01915. So I decided to check it out. First I did a search on "Romney for President Inc., 138 Conant St., 1st Floor, Beverly, MA 01915." I found all sorts of strange things. This is on a lefty forum: Ted Cruz campaign@rickperry.org via smna.targetedvictory.com For Liberty,Ted CruzP.S. I'm proud to...

My Latin is not what it once was and it was never much. So lately I have been making amends for schoolboy sloth by reading a few of the classics. I have just finished (in translation) and highly recommend The Annals of Imperial Rome, by Tacitus, which chronicles the years of Tiberius, Claudius, Caligula and Nero, (an) analysis of palace politics. Whoa! Excuse me: just where is all this going? Is this relevant to anything at all or is it just self-indulgent bloviation? Well, sort of. Be patient. Let me press on. It was a bit dismaying to read how...

SNIP As I reported a few weeks ago, some professors published a peer-reviewed article on the negative social costs to outright legalization. I noted that although overall traffic fatalities in Colorado have gone down since 2007, they went up by 100 percent for operators testing positive for marijuana—from 39 in 2007 to 78 in 2012. (Colorado legalized marijuana for medical usage in 2009, before legalizing marijuana for other uses in 2012.) Furthermore, in 2007, those pot-positive drivers represented only 7 percent of total fatalities in Colorado, but in 2012 they represented 16 percent of total Colorado fatalities. This new report...

Biofuel manufacturer KiOR’s financial struggles might leave Mississippi holding the title to another failed green energy project. According to the company’s quarterly report, without additional financing KiOR won’t be able to meet its financial obligations past Sept. 30. One of its biggest creditors is the state of Mississippi. The company owes the state $69.275 million on a no-interest loan to build a first-of-its kind plant to convert wood pulp into gasoline, fuel oil and diesel fuel in Columbus, Miss. It missed its most recent semi-annual payment of $1.875 million to the state, which granted forbearance June 3. But that ends...

SIERRA VISTA — Residents are urged to be cautious after a local business reported being contacted by a suspected con artist seeking money for an alleged overdue electric bill. The business owner reported being called from a phone line with an 850 area code, originating out of the Florida Panhandle, when a man on the other line said they had only 30 minutes to pay or their electricity would be shut off, according to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.

She published a newspaper advertisementA Gulf Arab businesswoman, describing herself as pretty widow, broke social barriers and published a newspaper advertisement for a husband. The woman, who identified herself as Umm Mohammed, stipulated the groom must be a Kuwaiti aged 33-40 years, has a university degree, enjoys good conduct and is ‘religious’. The advertisement, published in the Kuwaiti Arabic language daily Al Rai, said those interested should contact her through WhatsApp service.

a South San Francisco resident received a phone call from a man fraudulently posing as a Microsoft Windows employee and asking for personal information on Wednesday, according to police. The suspect, calling himself Mike Johnson, told the resident that her computer had been compromised by a hacker and that he needed access to her computer to conduct a diagnosis. The victim did not provide any personal information to the suspect, according to police. Microsoft said that they do not contact their customers over the phone, nor do they have any records of anyone from the company calling the victim. The...

A joint investigation by the Washington Examiner and the nonprofit watchdog group Judicial Watch found that former President Clinton gave 215 speeches and earned $48 million while his wife presided over U.S. foreign policy, raising questions about whether the Clintons fulfilled ethics agreements related to the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state. According to documents obtained by Judicial Watch and released Wednesday in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act case, State Department officials charged with reviewing Bill Clinton's proposed speeches did not object to a single one. Some of the speeches were delivered in global hotspots...

SIERRA VISTA — Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative is warning local businesses to be aware of a scam, after two Sierra Vista companies recently reported receiving phone calls demanding payments to prevent their electricity from being shut off. The businesses were both contacted within a week of each other and after normal business hours, while SSVEC does not disconnect accounts outside of those hours, said Wayne Crane, public relations coordinator for SSVEC. When called, the businesses were asked to submit payment to a third party and not the utility co-op. “This money never reaches the cooperative and therefore is never...

Are you curious who has been facilitating the transport of illegal alien children throughout the country? Look no moreÂ… meet La Raza connected Southwest Key Programs. This organization is the pipeline for the children into US refugee camps and homes across the nation. They provide immigrant youth shelters. It is a well-oiled machine that was set up to educate and reintegrate youth into American society. They also provide training for jobs. And baby, they are hiring. Southwest Key Programs is funded by government and state programs. Here is an overview of what they do: Southwest Key Programs is a national...

NLPC has extensively documented howTesla Motors has taken advantage of market distortions to reap revenues – including government mandates, subsidies, and taxpayer support – not the least of which have been so-called “zero emission credits” from the state of California. But much of the revenue Tesla enjoyed last year – which often meant the difference between profit and loss – was credited based upon theoreticaltechnological capabilities and not ones actually put into practice. CEO Elon Musk has also relied on accounting gimmicks to enhance his bottom line over the last 18 months, during which a couple of quarterly earnings...

fter years of starts and stops, the next frontier has finally arrived for biodiesel. Starting Tuesday, Minnesota will require all diesel fuel sold here to contain at least 10 percent biodiesel -- except during the winter, when the requirement will be 5 percent biodiesel. Currently, state law requires every gallon of diesel fuel to contain at least 5 percent biodiesel -- and 2 percent during the winter -- so supporters are excited to see Minnesota raise the bar to a highest-in-the-nation level.

>On June 8, 2014 — Pentecost Sunday — the Vatican hosted an “interfaith event” that included prayers by Christian priests, a Jewish rabbi, and a Muslim imam. The occasion was well-publicized in advance by the Holy See as a “pause in politics” that would promote peace between the Israel and the Palestinians. During his visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority the previous month, Pope Francis had invited Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to attend the event. Both leaders accepted the invitation, and sat with the Pope while prayers were said and chanted in the...

The 3-year-old girl who was reportedly kicked out of a KFC in Jackson, Mississippi, because the scarring on her face — remnants of a pit bull attack — were disturbing customers, was nothing more than an elaborate hoax, reports Laurel Leader-Call. The family of Victoria Wilcher claimed that she and her grandmother were asked to leave a KFC restaurant because her dog-attack scars were scaring patients, prompting the fast food chain to donate $30,000 to cover the girl’s medical bills. Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/23/little-girl-kicked-out-kfc-over-scars-was-elaborat/#ixzz35WmPRHlL Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

Fighting climate change would help grow the world economy, according to the World Bank, adding up to $2.6tn (£1.5tn) a year to global GDP in the coming decades. The findings, made available in a report on Tuesday, offer a sharp contrast with claims by the Australian government that fighting climate change would “clobber” the economy. The report also advances on the work of economists who have argued that it will be far more costly in the long run to delay action on climate change. Instead, Tuesday's report found a number of key policies – none of which included putting an...